Good news, the Senate Finance Committee has extended the debt relief act retroactively so anyone who short sold their home in the last year will still receive the tax break. We just need the HOUSE and the SENATE to pass this bill.

The relief expired at the end of 2013 so anyone short selling their home in 2014 is going to be very happy if this extension goes through. What this means is that if you bought your home for $400k, and you owe $300k on it, but you can only sell it for $200k with current market values being what it is,…. the difference of $100k that you owe the bank would be considered a phantom profit! If the debt relief act doesn’t get extended, folks who made this phantom income will have to pay taxes on it.

Let’s hope they get to voting on this soon. No “underwater” home owner should be penalized for choosing to short sell their home over letting it go to foreclosure.

Awhile back a client of mine bought a home where some additions were made to the home. However, being a foreclosure, the seller (the bank) claimed they knew nothing. So I made my way down to the building department of Las Vegas to do some research. I was able to find the original blueprints of the home and determined that one of the bedrooms upstairs was originally a loft.

So, what happens when you put up some drywall and call it a “bedroom” but don’t pull the permits? Nothing if you let your house go to foreclosure! But let’s say you were a traditional homeowner who wasn’t distressed.

You probably didn’t pay a for licensed contractor. Maybe a skilled friend or handyman helped you.

You didn’t have to pay for the permits or inspection

Your home wasn’t reassessed for taxes

But what happens when you want to sell the home? You’re best to ‘fess up to your Realtor because it will eventually come out in the open. It’ll come up in the title report and an extra bedroom could create problems for your buyer’s mortgage if they weren’t expecting it. Chances are if the remodel was minor you’ll get a fine from the building department for not pulling the permits at the beginning. Maybe it’s twice the cost of the original permit plus a late fee… but whatever the fine, it’ll be cheaper than being sued later by the buyer after the closing if the remodel was not disclosed.

Yes, you may pay a little more in taxes when you have your home reassessed but that extra room would also be covered if you ever had a fire in the home and had to make an insurance claim. If the remodel included a bathroom, a deferred permit would require an inspector come look at the work and some drywall might need to be removed to be able to see the pipes.

Regarding the foreclosure that took me down to the building department to begin with, the new owner had a choice to make. He could apply for the permits for the home he just bought, pay the fines, pay for the permits, and have the home reassessed for value and therefore taxes. Or… he could wait until he was ready to sell it in the future. What would you do?

The words “Home Owner’s Associations or HOAs” are often followed up with a collective groan. Most of us have heard bad things about them being a pain in the butt. My parents live in a community where the president of the HOA jogs the community on a daily basis and observes the lawns of all his neighbors. If you have a weed that popped up over night, be sure you’ll get a violation letter.

So… what do you do when you get a violation?
Well, the obvious would be to address the issue and if it’s truly something wrong… like weeds in the yard, get them pulled up and take a picture and send it to the HOA within the window of time they’ve given you to remedy the situation.

However, if the violation doesn’t apply to you, it’s just as important that you respond in a timely manner to your HOA. For example, an HOA was having a problem with people throwing ashtray loads of cigarettes out their balcony window. It was impossible to identify which of the residents in this 4-story building was doing it. So the HOA sent out violation letters to all condos that were in the vicinity of the cigarette butts. The residents who responded with “It wasn’t me- I don’t smoke” or “I wasn’t around at the time of the violation,” all had their violations written off. It helped the HOA narrow down the focus to the true violators and go after them directly.

I had a client get a violation for speeding through the community streets. I highly doubt the HOA can provide proof unless there’s video somewhere showing my client speeding. So my guess is that the HOA is sending out the violation to all residents and by having people respond with “no it’s not me,” or “prove it” is raising the awareness of the problem. By doing that, the HOA hopes to put a stop to the true violators.

HOAs are made up of volunteer home owners who represent the whole community. For the most part, the directors on the board are there to preserve the community. These volunteers don’t have time to micromanage and investigate so they have the managers they hire to send out these blanket notices sometimes to help narrow in on the true problems.

Enter this home through a private courtyard and be delighted by the beautiful inside. Tile floors throughout the downstairs with granite counter tops in the kitchen, built-in entertainment center in the living room, and separate dining room. Laundry room is located upstairs next to a huge master bedroom. Master bathroom has dual sinks and a separate shower and bathtub. 2 more bedrooms are located next to a 2nd floor loft that would make a great family room or office. The home gets beautiful light throughout the day. Fresh paint and ready for move-in.

It’s noticeable slower here this morning. My guess is that many people left on Sunday night.

My biggest takeaway from the conference is that I need to show how active I am in the South Strip area. I’ve been doing weekly and monthly price sheets for the last 2 years but I’ve been emailing it to a select group of people but will be posting them to this site now.

I’ll get hyper local and find other hyper local agents to work with so our clients get the best service.

22,000 people here for the convention. It’s tough to choose which sessions I’ll attend. Day 1 was informative. Day 2 should be even better.

I attended a property management forum, building a real estate team and a growing your business seminar. All around good stuff. Best gem for the day was learning that hoarders are officially considered disabled and therefore a protected class according to fair housing.

I first used Airbnb.com over two years ago when I was traveling through Boston, MA and wanted a “local” place to stay that was cheaper than the big hotels and near cute cafes, shops and restaurants in neighborhood-y- Jamaica Plain. What I got was a hidden key to a 2 bedroom apartment where the owner was staying at her boyfriend’s so that I could have some space and the run of her apartment. I stayed just one night and the home was cozy, centrally located and about 40% less than a hotel. Overall, it was a good experience and I’ve looked into doing it again in places like Puerto Rico, Chicago and Paris, France.

I will mention that another friend of mine used airbnb.com and ended up in a “developing” neighborhood of Brooklyn with his 75 year old dad. He was a little embarrassed to have his dad have to share the sidewalk with men playing dominoes on the street corner and a crackhead woman shouting from the center of the street but hey, I guess that can happen at a hotel in Union Square of San Francisco too.

Anyway, here’s a story about a guy who paid $40k for a 1 bedroom condo in Las Vegas and turned it into a vacation/ short term rental specifically to advertise and profit off of airbnb.com. He put in about $10k in improvements and makes about $13k/year. Not a bad return. Of course, this is a hands-on project and he’s clear in that this is NOT passive income. Also, I have to wonder if the HOA for this community would be very happy if they knew he was doing nightly rentals. Personally I’d hate to own the unit next door to this rental. I’d never know who’s coming or going and it doesn’t lend itself to a stable community if more people catch on and attempt to do this. As it is, I live in a condo community that requires a minimum 6 month lease. I know there are people doing less than this but thankfully the majority of owners couldn’t be bothered with the headache of nightly or weekly rentals. It’s a lot of wear and tear on a home too.

I’m on the US Treasury email list for their auctions and sometimes I scan through to see what sort of fun stuff the IRS has confiscated from people. I’ve seen luxury cars, boats, houses and random artwork and jewelry. There’s also homes that have been taken from people but usually they’re in places I would never consider buying or are too far away for me to even know where it is.

But recently, I came across this auction for lake front property in Henderson!
Starting bids are as low as $64k for over a 1/2 acre.
Cash only of course and if there are any other encumbrances on the land, I’m sure you’d have to clear the liens. Check it out!Treasury auction for Lake Las Vegas

Here’s a long but interesting article from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
It touches on how two different generations of people have touched Downtown Las Vegas and have weathered or contributed to the changes.

From Our Blog

Homeowners who short sold their homes before 2014 ended, will benefit from the debt relief being extended. This means if you bought a home back in 2005 for $400k, but short sold it in 2014 for $250k, the $150k difference will not be considered income for your taxes. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/The-Mortgage-Forgiveness-Debt-Relief-Act-and-Debt-Cancellation-

Good news, the Senate Finance Committee has extended the debt relief act retroactively so anyone who short sold their home in the last year will still receive the tax break. We just need the HOUSE and the SENATE to pass this bill. The relief expired at the end of 2013 so anyone short selling their […]

Awhile back a client of mine bought a home where some additions were made to the home. However, being a foreclosure, the seller (the bank) claimed they knew nothing. So I made my way down to the building department of Las Vegas to do some research. I was able to find the original blueprints of […]